Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
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rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
@rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
320 followers 160 following 1.7K posts
Books. Translation. Publishing. Films. Music. 🇩🇰🇬🇧🇪🇺
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rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
Read: Lissa Evans's Small Bomb at Dimperley (2024).
Colossally charming, funny, moving book set in post-war England. A feel-good book for readers who don't go for feel-good books.
November 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 39. #12.

The Soft Pink Truth: Sunwash (2022 🇺🇸)

A bandname whose awfulness rivals that of Jockstrap – but it's a great dubby ambient/electronic workout from one half of Matmos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfy7...
November 14, 2025 at 7:37 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 38. #13.

Jane Paknia, Hagop Tchaparian: Alice in Orchidverse (2024 🇺🇸, 🇬🇧)

And we're back on the dancefloor.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=prg5...
November 13, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
1. Placing these two graphs side by side shows why we have a prisons crisis. They can also be seen as a kind of Authoritarianism Index, showing the trend in state attitudes.
On the left is the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
On the right is the UK prison population.
🧵1/8
Crime survey for England Wales, showing strong decline since 1996. Source: Office for National Statistics. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingjune2025 UK prison population, showing major rise in England and Wales during the period in which crime has fallen. Source: House of Commons Library https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04334/
November 13, 2025 at 6:54 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 37. #14.

The Tubs: Wretched Lie (2023 🇬🇧)

This sounds straight out of the mid 80s British folky jangly scene, and it's a TUNE.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zh0...
November 12, 2025 at 7:20 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
Your weekly slowly hibernating bit of outside.
November 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
Alright so the orange president still isn't in jail, but at least some pub quiz cheaters have been stopped. Let's take that win.
November 11, 2025 at 7:33 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 36. #15.

Kelly Lee Owens: Dreamstate (2024 🇬🇧)

A relentless, chugging anthem.
KLO's second of two slots on my list.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcyr...
November 11, 2025 at 7:14 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
A panel from the most overrated comic ever. Also one of the best comics ever.
ianzpotter.bsky.social Ian Potter @ianzpotter.bsky.social · 4d
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
It's an artistic representation of a circulatory system walking through a kitchen, as drawn by Dave Gibbons and written about by Alan Moore. It happens a lot 'round here.
November 10, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
regretteruane.bsky.social
Was really struck by what a lovely inspiring exercise this is, like a primary school version of Mary Oliver’s Instructions for living a life
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it
Page from a 1960s primary school English textbook with a lovely cartoonish illustration of a red haired white girl in blue shirt looking at a cockatoo on a black perch. It is in the centre bottom and takes up about a third of the page, above is black serif text which reads Have you ever noticed? Every day we "see" things without really looking at them at all. On the way to and from school look at just one thing that you have often passed but never looked at very closely - it may be a street lamp, a small plant in a hedgerow, someone's front gate, the wall and windows of an ofice building, the balcony of a house, an object in a shop window. You are a secret service agent, and exact knowledge of this object is your password. Your life depends on it. Learn it by heart, and then describe it to the fellow agent who has to test you by your knowledge.
November 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
whenisbirths.bsky.social
When I was on @looksunfamiliar.bsky.social I chose this sequence from a 1979 Sesame Street episode - probably the first time I ever heard Philip Glass was this exclusive piece he wrote for this animated sequence, Geometry of Circles. It's never appeared anywhere else.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWw...
Philip Glass - Sesame Street - Geometry of Circles.mp4
YouTube video by SamCam2011
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:46 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 35. #16.

Grace Ives: Shelly (2022 🇺🇸)

HERE'S A RIFF.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQWO...
November 10, 2025 at 6:55 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 34. #17.

The Staves: Satisfied (2021 🇬🇧)

Pour this into my ears.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWwK...
November 9, 2025 at 10:52 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 33. #18.

Sofi Tukker, Tuck’s Dad: Larry Bird (2022 🇺🇸)

Not really my thing, but I just cannot sit still to this one. Also: nice and short!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOP...
November 8, 2025 at 7:29 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
Read: Sam Leith: The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading (2024).
Wonderfully alive history of children's (and adjacent) books. A big fat brick I could almost have read in one sitting.
November 7, 2025 at 7:53 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 32. #19.

Floating Points: Birth4000 (2024 🇬🇧)

Yesterday's producer is back and does the bare minimum, very efficiently.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWLp...
November 7, 2025 at 7:37 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
In The Guardian's listicle of stuff they gave 0 stars is a "play" that my wife* and I attended 17 years ago. We often chuckle at how absolutely terrible it was. We walked out.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/j...
Theatre review: An Audience With the Mafia / Apollo, London
(no stars) Someone hire a hit man and put this dire mafia mismatch out of its misery, says Lyn Gardner
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:43 PM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
I'm quite disappointed. I found the Rude filter and switched it off this morning, but still I only get urbane, funny, interesting, fascinating tweets in my timeline.
evilbatwitch.cryptoanarchy.network Evil Bat Witch @evilbatwitch.cryptoanarchy.network · 9d
If you aren't seeing skeets from some of your fave people, they might have been labeled "Rude" by bsky mods. Idk what they are thinking, I don't need a mommy to tell me who to be buddies with. Anyway, go into Settings > moderation > bluesky moderation (advanced) and turn Rude off.
Rude Rude or impolite, including crude language and disrespectful comments, without constructive purpose. Highlighted Off, darkened Warn, and darkened Hide buttons.
November 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 31. #20.

Hikaru Utada: Somewhere Near Marseilles (2022 🇯🇵/🇺🇸)

Nice to see this house banger picking up momentum.
The producer will be back on my list very soon.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FL7...
November 6, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
caasbrey.bsky.social
Harvard Gazette: Gazette: “You are the mother of two In ten years you have produced three novels and two short-story collections. Can you talk about your process and how you manage work and family?” Groff: “I understand that this is a question of vital importance to a lot of people, particularly to other mothers who are artists trying to get their work done, and know that I feel for everyone in the struggle. But until I see a male writer asked that question, I am going to respectfully decline to answer it.”
November 5, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Steffen Rayburn-Maarup
angusmain.bsky.social
Well done Zohran! And of course the real victor of the day - typography.
Zohran Mamdami’s beautiful colourful typographic posters
November 5, 2025 at 7:37 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 30. #21.

Magdalena Bay: Hysterial Us (2021 🇺🇸)

An irresistible piece of sugary pop, endlessly hummable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwjs...
November 5, 2025 at 7:19 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
Rooks and crows overhead, tits in the trees. A light rain.
November 4, 2025 at 12:14 PM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
#TheTwen2ie5. Day 29. #22.

Yeah Yeah Yeah feat. Perfume Genius: Spitting Off the Edge of the World (2022 🇺🇸)

Some nice and slow rock music.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckM_...
November 4, 2025 at 8:45 AM
rayburnmaarup.bsky.social
"We look brave," said Frog. "Yes, but are we?" asked Toad. (Arnold Lobel: Frog and Toad)
November 3, 2025 at 1:20 PM